Careful Observation
by half-demon priestess
Summary: Kurenai decided to look at the gennin candidates before the exams, after a little observation what she decides to do will change everything…
1. Stake out at the Academy!

Careful Observation

Summary: Kurenai decided to look at the gennin candidates before the exams, after a little observation what she decides to do will change everything…

Chapter One: Stake out at the Academy!

Kurenai listened to the Hokage attentively as he explained to the Jounin around her their duties as a gennin team instructor. She was glad to get the chance to do for someone else what her instructor had done for her when she had been a gennin. When the Hokage dismissed them, she walked out of the room thinking about what her team would be like with Asuma walking close behind her.

"Kurenai…? Kurenai are you listening to me!?" Kurenai snapped out of her chain of thought at Asuma's voice.

"Sorry… What were you saying?" Asuma sighed and pulled out a cigarette.

"I asked if you wanted to come with me and Kakashi to get a drink." She blinked.

"What, right now? Sorry Asuma but I'm going to the Academy to see the candidates."

"Why would you want to do that?" Kurenai turned to Kakashi and glared at him as he approached. Asuma nodded in agreement to Kakashi's words.

"Kurenai you don't need to see them until they graduate and you know who your students will be." Kurenai glared at Asuma as well.

"I don't do it because I have to, as an instructor it's my duty to do my best by my students. You would do it too if you both weren't so lazy!" She huffed in annoyance and left the room in a puff of smoke.

8:45 am outside the Academy

Kurenai crouched in the trees observing the students; none had discovered her so far hidden in the trees high branches. She watched as the young Yamanaka and Haruno girls quarreled over pieces of Sasuke's clothing. She noticed the Hyuga heiress trying her best to blend into the environment around her as she looked towards the gates she had to assume she was waiting for someone while a loud brown haired boy who if her guess was right an Inuzuka tried to catch her attention by showing off, unaware of the fact that the Hyuga wasn't watching. An Aburame leaned against a tree watching some ants crawl across the ground with a blank face and the Nara genius slept on a bench next to the Akimichi boy who wolfed down a packet of chips.

Kurenai knew these students by their school profiles that she had memorized late last night. They all showed promise this year well except for…

"Alright, only three days left until the exams!" Kurenai turned to the direction of the yell. 'Well speak of the devil…' A small blonde and orange blur jumped over the wall and landed next to her tree between the Yamanaka and Haruno girl. The blonde bundle of energy smiled and laughed, Kurenai couldn't for the life of her figure out why though. 'Does this kid have ADHD or something?'

"Naruto you are such an idiot! You made me lose the piece of Sasuke's shirt to Ino-pig!" Naruto stopped smiling and looked nervous.

"Uh… Sorry Sakura! It was an accident honest!" The girl ignored him and began to beat down on him as Ino did a victory dance. Kurenai's opinion of the boy raised a notch as he didn't hit her back or retaliate even as a few others around them began to laugh. His silent taking of the beating worried her though, even though he was a shinobi he was still a child. How many children could take such a beating so thoroughly? Either it didn't hurt which was unlikely considering how much damage the girl was inflicting or he was so used to being hit that he thought it was normal. That thought riled her up. 'How could that girl just hit him like that for no good reason? What are they teaching them at this place!?'

Kurenai looked up to the window to see one of the teachers looking out the window to see the scene below. Then it hit her, the teachers must be ignoring this all the time. 'Do they want revenge so badly that they are willing to allow an innocent boy to be hurt like this?' Waves of guilt rushed through her, she had never even met Naruto but she had never cared enough to think about what the villagers did to him before. 'No wonder his grades are so poor, none of the teachers probably even attempted to teach him anything.'

If she had been willing to bet that none of the teachers cared about Naruto she would have lost soon one of the teachers came to the scene to pull Haruno off of Naruto. He told the girl off and punished her before everyone left to get to class. He carefully pulled Naruto up of the ground as the boy dusted himself off. Kurenai had to smile at this a little bit, she knew Iruka well so it wasn't that surprising that he would treat Naruto equally even if it killed him to do so. She moved to a different branch to look into the classroom window.

…LUNCH…LUNCH… LUNCH…LUNCH… LUNCH…LUNCH… LUNCH…

Kurenai raged inwardly for the umpteenth time today after watching morning classes. Being an academy teacher when she was a chunnin meant she knew exactly what was expected of students and teachers. In the span of two and a half hours she had formed a great hatred for Mizuki. He had broken so many of the teachers code of conduct rules that it disgusted her, she had watched as he 'corrected' Naruto's hand signs which is to say he completely changed them so no matter what he did it wouldn't work. What got her the most was that it wasn't Naruto's hand signs that were wrong he simply put to much chakra into it but Mizuki didn't seem to want to correct that either. She dropped from her tree and stealthily ran after Naruto, when they reached the forest part of the grounds she took to the trees again and wondered how she could reveal herself without sounding like some freaky stalker lady when a kunai went straight for her.

"Of all the…" She jumped into the air to get away and a bunch of shuriken came after her from all directions making it impossible to dodge. She disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a log.

Kurenai growled slightly, she had been caught by a student and the supposed dead-last of the class to boot. She raised her hands in defeat to show him she didn't want this to continue.

"It seems your title for dead last is a bit less accurate than I thought." Her calm, kind voice made him relax his shoulders a little. She hoped he wasn't going to throw anything else.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" She shrugged.

"I saw you practice your jutsu and being the nice jounin that I am I thought I'd be polite and tell you what you were doing wrong…" Naruto made a face at her.

"Do you expect me to believe that shit?" She sighed.

"Well if you don't want my help than I'll just go and take my cool Hokage beating jutsu with me since you seem to want to do this on your own…" Naruto's ear twitched at 'cool Hokage beating jutsu' Kurenai inwardly smiled seeing she had hit a nerve, she turned to walk away.

"Wait up! I want to learn those jutsu!" She turned back to look at him and held out her pinky finger.

"You really want to lean the jutsu?" He nodded.

"Really-really!"

"Pinky swear on it then." Naruto quickly did so and looked at her expectantly. "Alright then show me your hand signs for the clone jutsu first and we'll see what you're doing wrong."

...TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…

Naruto jumped as the bell for class to start up again rang, Kurenai smiled at him again.

"Meet me here after school and I'll help you do the substitution jutsu consistently without hand signs…" He grinned and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you!" He dashed of back to the building.

"That boy has way too much energy…"


	2. Graffiti and a Gai clone?

Since I got so many hits for this story that I decided to update right away. Thanks for all of your reviews and story alerts.

Kakashi: Half-demon priestess had major computer problems so hopefully she'll get her butt in gear and update her other stories soon so be patient!

Sasuke: If she knows what's good for her she'll hurry up about it I won't to kill Itachi in 'A little mercy goes a long way' before Shippuden ends!

Half-demon priestess: Never, Itachi must live! Flaming turkeys of doom attack the Itachi hater!

Sasuke: Like I'm afraid of some stupid chicken… Oh shit what are they?

_Sasuke is dragged of by __the giant turkeys to be tortured with Paris Hiltons new album until he is brainwashed into liking Sasunaru fan fictions in comparison_

Half-demon priestess: Kakashi please do the disclaimer

Kakashi: Sure, Half-demon priestess doesn't own Naruto or any other anime otherwise I wouldn't be allowed to wear my mask!

Half-demon priestess: Grr…. Just you wait its coming off! I waited to find out Naruto's parents names in the manga I can wait for it to come off… Besides your going to go crazy when you meet Obito again!

Kakashi: Lies, I refuse to listen!

Half-demon priestess: Flaming turkeys of doom get him; I want that mask off now!

Chapter Two: Graffiti and a Gai clone?

Naruto looked out of the window of his apartment; the Hokage Mountain faces stared back at him. 'This is lame I haven't even run into that nice jounin since yesterday…' He thought it over for a moment. 'What if she thought I was so hopeless that I'd fail the exam again? Too much… pressure…'

"Damn it I need something to take it out on!" He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "What to do…" He looked out his window once again and got an idea. "That's it! This will be the best prank ever, believe it!"

...TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…

"Naruto, come back here!" Naruto laughed as he ran.

"No way you're just jealous because you don't have the nerve to do what I do!" Naruto jumped to the ground and disappeared behind a cloak as the enraged chunnin ran past him.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! What losers!" In his excitement he didn't sense the presence behind him.

"What was that Naruto!?" Naruto jumped into the air in shock and to his dismay it was Iruka.

"I-Iruka-sensei what are you doing here?" Iruka moved his face right in front of him.

"I should be asking you that, you should be in class!"

"Uh… Sensei what's with that look?" After five minutes of struggling Iruka placed Naruto on the classroom floor tied up.

"Naruto, what are you doing? You failed the exam last year and the year before that and you're screwing up again!" Naruto pouted and looked in the other direction. Iruka looked at him for a moment before an evil glint entered his eye. "Well since you missed it the entire class is going to review the transformation jutsu!" The entire class groaned but formed a line knowing it was futile to argue with Iruka when he had his 'angry teacher face' on.

Now untied Naruto stood between Shikamaru and Ino in the line as Sakura preformed the jutsu, normally he might have paid attention to what Sakura was doing but he was to busy planning his revenge on Iruka.

"What a drag, this is all your fault Naruto…" Shikamaru's voice broke Naruto's concentration.

"We always pay for you're screw ups!" Ino added.

"Like I care…" Then it hit him. 'My screw ups, that's it! He-he-he, Iruka won't know what hit him!'

"Next up is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto walked up to Iruka smiling, Iruka didn't seem to notice though.

"Transform!" When the smoke cleared a beautiful naked twenty year old girl stood in front of Iruka and blew him a kiss. Iruka went white and stared until the blood came rushing out of his nose sending him flying in the air. Naruto laughed as he held his sides to prevent them from splitting. "Got you; with my sexy jutsu sensei!" Iruka towered over him.

"Stop the stupid tricks; this is your last warning!"

...TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP… TIMESKIP…

Naruto walked down the streets quietly, the last thing he wanted was to catch the attention of some drunken loser.

"Kurenai you've got that look again…"

"Huh? What look?" Naruto's ear twitched at the familiar voice, he snuck up to the bar and looked in the door.

"…Like your ready to maul someone…" Naruto mentally cursed the noise in the bar. It made it hard to listen to what the silver haired man was saying.

"Kurenai has been embracing the wonderful flames of youths through teaching!" The man in horrible green tights voice boomed over the others. The brown haired man raised an eyebrow and pulled out a cigarette.

"Teaching who? She hasn't got a gennin team yet!" The man in tights smiled and gave them a thumb up.

"She did a true wonder showing the Uzumaki boy his jutsu; she has truly shown the youthful spirit of a sensei by refusing to let prejudice of others ruin his education!" The silver haired man turned to him.

"Hnn… Did you say something Gai?" The man began to cry passionately.

"Kakashi my eternal rival, curse your cool manner!" Naruto sniffed, that guy had just completely ignored that man and him, if only indirectly. 'It's time to try out my new jutsu!' He made a few hand signs and focused his chakra on the silver haired man.

"Clone transformation jutsu…" Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by Naruto's illusion. His hair was a bowel cut with an outfit matching the spandex of the other man. The brown haired man dropped his cigarette and stared, the man he used for his jutsu burst into more tears.

"Kakashi, you have embraced your youth! Come, we shall run 500 laps around the village in celebration!" Kakashi looked scared.

"No, Gai…!" Gai pulled him out of the bar; Kakashi looked at the other man begging. "Please Asuma, save me!" Asuma shook his head slowly still not believing what he was seeing. "Kurenai will you please?" Kurenai smiled at the scene and took a sip of sake.

"This is karma Kakashi, deal with it…" Naruto snickered. Asuma noticed and looked over to see him before turning back to Kurenai.

"My dear genjutsu mistress have you been teaching this boy to pull pranks?" Kurenai shook her head and invited Naruto to sit in Kakashi's place; Naruto did so cautiously watching the two. They smiled lightly at him as he did it.

"What genjutsu was that, I'm not familiar with it?" Naruto shook his head.

"I don't know any genjutsu; I just used the clone jutsu with a transformation jutsu."

Kurenai shock her head and offered him a snack which he dug into, despite just eating twelve bowels of ramen with Iruka he was still hungry.

"Transformation jutsu and clone jutsu are genjutsu; you use your chakra to create an illusion. What you just did was more complex, I never did check your transformation jutsu… What you did was a form of shadow transformation. It doesn't just look like something, you can feel the transformation of the person and if you're advanced enough in the technique you can even smell like them. Not enough to fool a wary member of the Inuzuka clan say, unless you have their level of smell but it is dangerous and effective." Naruto looked at her starry eyed.

"That's so cool!" Kurenai smiled at him.

"Very cool, it's why I became a genjutsu mistress. Genjutsu is a deadly weapon for a shinobi." Naruto nodded and Asuma snorted.

"Trying to convince him to become a specialist like you already Kurenai? Let his jounin sensei have a crack at him first besides kid…" He slung his arm around Naruto. "Everyone who is a ninja can crack a genjutsu so you want element manipulation like me, it's unstoppable." Kurenai poked Asuma in the ribs.

"I'll take you home Naruto, before Asuma poisons your mind with his lies." Naruto jumped off the stool and followed Kurenai out the door as Asuma wave before beginning to drink again.

Kurenai ruffled Naruto's hair as he practically bounced through the street. 'The village needs to rethink its idea of a genius; Naruto just did a difficult genjutsu that no-ones ever thought to try before…Particularly since he supposedly doesn't have any genjutsu skills.'

When they reached his door she beamed at him.

"Good luck with your exam Naruto." She poked him on the forehead. "Maybe you should wear something other than the orange jumpsuit." He looked at her like she had just said she killed his puppy (not that he could afford one). "For good luck, not that you need it…" He nodded slowly and she flicked his nose. "Bye."

END CHAPTER


	3. Tests and a Traitor

Chapter Three: Tests and a traitor

The stars twinkled through his window as Naruto sat on his bed in his pyjamas staring at the two sets of clothing. Kurenai had said to wear something other than his favourite orange jumpsuit. She had been right about everything so far so it was the same with this right? He was stuck between it and the clothes he had pulled out of his closet that wasn't orange and actually fit. 'Hnn… No-one said I couldn't have a little bit of both.' He laughed manically with his trademark fox grin. Naruto pulled out a pair of scissors and feeling a twinge of remorse cut his favourite jumpsuit into pieces. 'I hope this turns out well…'

Naruto smiled at his finished creation in satisfaction, after years of living by himself he'd taught himself how to take care of his clothes and he was proud to say he could sew. He snorted at the thinking about how bad Sasuke's sewing was, even after years of being alone since his family died the genius of the Uchiha clan had to buy new clothes every time they got damaged because when he tried to fix them they turned out like a Frankenstein wannabe. Naruto carefully folded his creation and placed it on his table before flopping onto his bed and falling asleep.

…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…

Naruto blinked sleepily as the sunlight hit his eyes.

"Stupid sunlight…" Bring!!! Naruto's fist descended on the alarm clock, he groaned and sat up. "I have to get up for… test… God damn it…" Naruto pulled of his sleeping cap and stumbled over to his kitchen.

Naruto slowly woke up as he ate, he hated mornings with passion, he toyed with the idea of going a bit later but the test hovered in his mind so he unhappily got dressed and began to walk to the academy.

A series of shouts came from behind him and Naruto made sure to get out of the middle of the road prepared for the blonde and pink haired girls tore through the street. Naruto blinked sleepily at the two and sweat dropped.

"I'll never understand those two…" He yawned as he walked through the gates. "Man, I shouldn't have stayed up so late…"

Naruto quietly entered the classroom as he rubbed the sleep out of his eye; he fell into the last empty chair in the back of the classroom.

"H-hello N-Naruto-kun…" Naruto turned his head to see Hinata talking to him; he sweat dropped as she began to blush. 'She's so weird…'

"Morning Hinata…" Hinata turned a deeper shade of red and her mind was screaming at her to say something.

"I-I… Like your new clothes…" Naruto blinked feeling a slight blush raise on his cheek, he wasn't used to compliments. He hadn't thought the dark blue lose pants, black sleeved shirt with red spiral mark imprinted and white swirl sewn on the left shoulder; the orange jacket now a vest left open would look nice despite the fact he felt pride from the success of it.

"Thanks Hinata, uh… good luck on your exam…" Hinata looked at him starry eyed and impishly smiled. 'He cares…'

"You too Naruto-kun…" Iruka and Mizuki walked through the door and Naruto quickly looked away from Hinata to pay attention, he really wanted to pass this time.

"Alright everyone, you need to make at least three clones to pass, when I call your name come into the exam room to take the test. Good luck!" Naruto gulped at Iruka's announcement; even after Kurenai-san helped him he wasn't confident with his clone jutsu apart from his clone/henge he could only produce a clone jutsu successfully two out of three times. Naruto began tapping his foot on the floor nervously as his imagination began to get the better of him. Time seemed to fly by as everyone slowly began to file out until Iruka called his name.

Naruto walked into the room feeling like he was made of wood and stood in front of his two teachers nervously.

"Alright Naruto, remember you need three clones to pass…" Naruto nodded slightly, closing his eyes and began to run through the hand signs for the jutsu, he felt his chakra begin to breakout of his control and desperately focused to stop the jutsu from being overloaded. A soft bang signalled that the jutsu was complete and Naruto cracked an eye open hardly daring to look.

Naruto opened his other eye and smiled twenty clones filled the room. 'Alright, I didn't screw up!' Naruto looked to Iruka who was smiling brightly as he was nodding.

"Congratulations Naruto, you pass!" Iruka hadn't thought it possible but Naruto's smile widened further and he began to jump around practically screaming 'I passed' over and over. "Alright Naruto…" Naruto snapped back to pay attention. "Remember you will have to meet us back in the classroom to meet your jounin sensei on the orientation day!" Naruto nodded and ran out the door with his headband tightly in his grip. For the rest of the exams Mizuki said nothing and it left Iruka to wonder what was going through his head.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Naruto smiled as he sat on his apartment's roof, kicking his heels against it. He looked up at the hokage faces.

"This is great! I'm one step closer to becoming Hokage now that I'm a real ninja… He-he…"

"It's such a shame that you're going to be stuck with him…" Naruto turned in surprise to see Mizuki sauntering over to him.

"Stuck with who Mizuki-sensei?" Mizuki shrugged.

"Sasuke…" Naruto's eyes widened.

"What? How come I have to be stuck with him?"

"Its tradition, the rookie of the year and the dead-last of the class are always put together to balance the teams." Naruto rubbed his hands through his hair angrily.

"No, no, no! I can't spend my time stuck with that bastard!" He turned to Mizuki-sensei and looked at him begging. "I'll do anything to avoid that horror, there has to be a way!" Mizuki smiled at him.

"There is a way to get your grade up before the teams are settled but it will be difficult…" Naruto looked at him in hope.

"What is it? I'll do anything sensei…"

"All you have to do is go into the Hokages vault, take the large scroll from inside it and learn one of the advanced jutsu in it, be mastering a difficult jutsu you'll have proven your skill and your marks will greatly increase because of it. Since I'm feeling generous today, I'll even tell you a little hide away where you can practice undisturbed…"

Naruto listened intently to what Mizuki told him and ran off in the direction of the Hokage tower. Mizuki grinned; he couldn't believe how trusting that demon was. 'It's so easy to manipulate him when you have the right incentive… I thought my plan would fail for sure when he passed the exam.'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Naruto sweated heavily as he sat on the ground cradling the scroll in his arms.

'Man that Shadow Clone jutsu is tough; I can feel it draining my chakra every time I use it but at least I've mastered it now 'cause it's so much more useful than my normal clone jutsu…'

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Naruto looked up at Iruka and smiled.

"You got me sensei; I only managed to learn one jutsu. Sensei, I'm going to show you this cool jutsu and your going to put up my grade so I won't have to be in the same team as Sasuke!" Iruka looked at him surprised.

"Who told you something like that?" Naruto slung the scroll onto his shoulder and his smile widened.

"Mizuki-sensei, he said that the dead-last and rookie of the year are always put on the same team so if I didn't want to end up on his team I'd have to learn a jutsu from the scroll and I won't be stuck with him right?" Iruka was strangely silent for a moment and Naruto felt a knot rise in his throat. "Isn't that right sensei?" Iruka shook his head.

"Naruto that scroll contains forbidden jutsu sealed by the first Hokage for the village's protection…" Iruka spun around as hundreds of kunai flew straight in his direction.

The kunai cut deeply into Iruka's arms and one embedded itself in one of his legs. Iruka pulled it out shakily as Mizuki revealed his presence.

"Mizuki you traitor, what do you think your doing?"

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Kurenai leapt through the trees at an astounding speed, her eyes rapidly searched the forest. 'Where are you Naruto?' Kurenai spotted him in a small clearing holding onto Iruka tightly.

Kurenai jumped into the clearing quietly, Iruka noticed her and pulled out a kunai warningly. 'He must suspect me of being in with Mizuki, that's good. Iruka can put aside his desire to see the good in everybody when in comes to protecting Naruto, who would of guessed?'

"Don't worry so much Iruka; I'm here on Hokage's orders to make sure you two are unhurt." Iruka lowered the kunai and patted Naruto on the head. Naruto turned to look at her and waved slightly, she smiled and nodded.

Soon the ANBU appeared and escorted Naruto and Iruka away and she felt a bit more appreciation of them as they interacted with Naruto, they had spent so much time look after him when he was child they knew he wasn't a monster.

A slight groan caught her attention; Kurenai looked to see Mizuki still twitching on the ground waiting to be transported by the ANBU. She kicked his hand away in disgust and swore she could hear the closest ANBU snigger mumbling something about 'over-protective females'. Kurenai made a face at him and he laughed a bit harder. Kurenai shook it off and walked away, she blamed it on the harshness of ANBU life, being a jounin was hard enough and produced oddballs like Guy, ANBU was twice as hard. It made Kakashi who he was, enough said.


	4. Changes Begin!

Chapter Four: Changes begin!

"Kid, are you sure you don't want to change?" Naruto looked at the old photographer outraged.

"No way in hell!"

"Are you sure?" Naruto's eye twitched at the man's tone.

"Just take the photo old man." The man sighed.

"Alright, but don't blame me for this later." The man snapped the picture.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

"Hokage-sama nothing good will come of this! You know better than anyone the things that could happen if Naruto is put in team seven!" Sarutobi inhaled a puff of smoke.

"I fail to see what the problem is Kurenai, this is how we have arranged the teams for years and nothing ill has come of it." Kurenai felt her temper flare.

"Nothing ill has come of it? Hokage-sama that's a lie and you know it." Sarutobi remained silent as he exhaled the smoke. "What about the Yondaime Hokage's team? Maito Gai's team? The dead-last and rookie of the year grouping has always failed!" Sarutobi's face remained blank. "What about you own gennin team, the legendary three of Konoha?" Kurenai whispered and Sarutobi flinched.

"Enough Kurenai, you have made your point. I am still uneasy about you suggestion though. I have my reasons for putting Naruto with Kakashi, I will not hand him over to you." Kurenai bit her lip.

"But… How about we ask him?" Kurenai patted herself on the back for being so smart; there was no way Naruto wouldn't choose her. Sarutobi's fist slammed into the table.

"Absolutely not, we both know he would pick you in a second! I will not have Naruto treated any differently then any other gennin; he will be placed as anyone else would be."

Kurenai felt a trickle of sweat run down her neck as the pressure of the Hokage's killing intent swamped her, it made it nearly impossible to even breathe.

"H-Hokage-sama…" Kurenai bit her lip harder nervously. "Naruto obviously isn't the dead-last; I've seen what he can do with my own eyes. You could even ask Iruka if you want to." Kurenai felt her blood boil in rebellion. "For gods sake he learnt the shadow clown jutsu in the span of a few hours! That alone would be enough to have his results change if he were anyone else, it is a forbidden technique for a reason!" Sarutobi drummed his fingers on his table impatiently.

"You're not going to let this drop?" Kurenai shook her head. "Hnn… I'll think about it."

Kurenai knew a dismissal when she heard one and quickly left the room, as the door swung shut she leaned against the wall and sighed in relief. 'I've done it, now that I have the Hokage rethinking it this has a chance.' She ran her fingers through her hair. 'I'm never doing that again.'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

"Naruto, you cannot be serious. You're ninja ID photo is supposed to give identification for your missions." The Hokage picked up the file. "Look at this photo, you can't even tell who this is!" Naruto nodded.

"I know! It's pretty artistic huh? At first I could think of how to do it but then it came to me." The Hokage's eyebrow twitched.

"Take the photo again Naruto!" Naruto stood up and made the hand sign for the transformation jutsu and disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a beautiful, naked girl in her twenties. "Pretty please Lord Hokage?" Sarutobi froze for a moment before blood pored out of his nose sending him falling backwards.

Naruto reappeared and giggled quietly as the Hokage pulled himself back up while wiping away the blood on his face.

"Oh you think that's funny Naruto? You're still retaking the photo…" Naruto glared at him.

"No I'm not!"

"Oh yes you-!" The door slammed open and a young brown haired boy charged in holding shuriken.

"Old man, I'm going to defeat you and assume the title of Hokage!" The boy suddenly tripped and Sarutobi sighed.

Naruto stared at the young boy in disbelief as he stood up.

"Wait a minute something must have tripped me!" The boy turned to look at Naruto. "Ah-ha! You tripped me didn't you? Admit it!" Naruto felt his eye twitch in anger.

"You idiot, you tripped over your own feet!" The boy ran up to him.

"What did you say? Don't you know who I am? I the grandson of the third hokage!" Naruto gritted his teeth together before his fist descended on the boys head.

"I don't care if he's your grandmother!" With a huff of annoyance Naruto stormed out of the room past a ninja who ran in.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

(A/n: I won't be re writing what happens in the series much because it bores me so you must know some of the episodes that I'm following to know what happens I don't like giving out spoilers and I want to get this done for my viewers)

Naruto opened the door to his apartment and walked inside rubbing his forehead tiredly. 'Damn, my head hurts really bad… Why does this always have to happen when I use shadow clones?' Naruto closed his door and pulled off his ninja sandals.

Naruto flopped into his chair and planted his forehead on the table, he knew he would have to make dinner soon but he wanted his head ache to ease first. After ten minutes his head ache showed no sign of easing so Naruto pushed himself out of the chair towards the cupboard.

A knock on the door caught Naruto's attention, sighing he made his way back to the door and stood on his toes to look through the peep hole. He was in no mode to deal with the villagers or his land lord. Instead of an angry face staring back at him, Iruka looked back at him. In relief Naruto opened the door for his sensei and smiled.

"Iruka-sensei what are you doing here?" Iruka smiled back and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"I have good news Naruto; tomorrow there's going to be another test!" Naruto's smile vanished.

"Since when is 'that' good news?!"

"When if you pass you won't be dead-last anymore and you won't be on Sasuke's team!" Naruto grinned.

"Seriously?!" Iruka nodded.

"That's right! Your mark on the final exam gave you the same score as Kiba so we need to test you both again to see if we can raise one of your grades!"

"What have I got to do to win sensei?"

"Just win! It will be a simple un-restricted sparing match!" Iruka's smile was replaced with a serious look. "Naruto please take this seriously, I know you want to win so please take my advice…" Iruka sighed. "Use your head, we both know Kiba's stronger and faster than you are so you're going to have to out think him. A ninja's best tool is their mind, don't forget that… I don't want to see you lose…" Naruto looked at his feet for a moment. 'Iruka-sensei's serious… I-I don't want to let him down…' Naruto flashed his fox grin.

"Don't worry sensei! Kiba won't know what hit him!"


	5. battle of the Deadlasts!

Chapter Five: Battle of the dead-lasts!

Naruto stood in the Academy training field stretching his tired muscles, he'd came early because he knew he wouldn't be able to pass unless he was fully awake and he had a habit of being half asleep until mid-day.

Last night he'd checked and double checked that he had everything he needed to beat Kiba, Naruto had a plan. Normally he would just charge in rather than think about it but he wanted to win so badly that he decided to treat this like one of his pranks. Kiba wouldn't know what hit him, he never did. That was why he was one of Naruto's favourite targets. Kiba never saw any of it coming, from stink bombs to a bucket of water above the door or a floor made super slippery thanks to too much floor wax, Kiba always got sprung.

"Naruto are you ready?" Naruto turned his head to see Iruka waving at him, Naruto grinned and waved back to his sensei.

"Of course I'm ready sensei! Don't worry about it Kiba's in for one hell of a surprise!" Iruka placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder reassuringly.

"That's good; I've got a bet with the other teachers that you'll win. If I win I'll use some of the money to treat you to ramen tonight Hnn?" Naruto's smile got bigger.

"Now that's some serious motivation sensei! I'll have him begging for mercy in three minutes, just you wait and see!" Iruka sighed quietly.

"Don't be over confident Naruto; you don't know what will happen!"

"You worry way to much Iruka-sensei I've got a fool proof plan to take him down!" Iruka looked at Naruto sceptically.

"If you're sure then…"

"Oi Naruto! Why don't you just give up? It'll save you a lot of pain in the long run!" Kiba walked into the training field with a very smug look on his face.

"Where's Akamaru Kiba? I thought you couldn't live without a puppy fighting you're battles for you!" Kiba snarled.

"Watch what you say kid! There's no way I'm going to be the dead-last with you around!" The referee for the match Hayate slipped in to the training field without anyone noticing. Seeing the two combatants arguing he cleared his throat to draw their attention. The two boys looked at him in shock wondering when he'd arrived.

"If you two would cut that out then we'll begin the match! The rules are simple; you win the match if you're opponent gives up or if I declare that they are unable to continue. My rulings are final do you understand that? The winner's grade will be raised and the loser will be declared the dead last. Do either of you have any questions?" Naruto and Kiba looked away from each other stubbornly. Iruka sweat dropped. 'Those two are way too alike.' Hayate looked at both of them momentarily. "Since I hear no objections the match shall begin!"

Naruto pulled out a kunai and Kiba followed suit.

"There's no way you're going to beat me Naruto!" Naruto smirked as they continued attacking each other, he didn't say a word but Kiba ignored his unusual silence.

Kiba managed to cut his leg, Naruto jumped back and threw the kunai at him, cutting his left shoulder. Despite the wound Kiba charged towards Naruto again, Naruto slipped his hand into his weapons bag.

"To late Naruto, I've got you now! I knew I wouldn't need Akamaru's help to beat a loser like you!" Naruto's smile widened sinisterly, his foxy grin unnerved Kiba but the boy didn't stop. 'There's no way he can stop me now!' Naruto ducked under Kiba's strike and ran straight past him, ninja wire in hand. "What the hell are you doing?" Naruto jumped over the branch.

"Shadow clone jutsu! Ha-ha!" Five clones of Naruto popped into existence and pulled at wire simultaneously.

Kiba was pulled back suddenly towards the tree. 'Crap! When the hell did he put those ninja wires there?' Naruto continued to pull at the wire until Kiba was half way up to the branch. Kiba yelled out in pain.

"Ninja art: Ultra wedgie!"

"Naruto, you dirty bastard! Just wait until I get down!" Naruto moved his hand to his ear.

"What was that Kiba? You want to go higher? I don't think that's such a good idea! The higher you go the more it will hurt!" One of his shadow clones smirked.

"Who are we to deny him that pleasure boss? He did ask for it!" Naruto grinned.

"You know you may just be right about that!" Naruto heaved at the wire.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IT HURTS! CUT IT OUT NARUTO!"

Hayate and Iruka winced as they watched the scene.

"That's enough!" Naruto stopped pulling at the wire. "Uzumaki Naruto is the winner!"

"Alright!" Smiling Naruto let go of the wire and Kiba fell unceremoniously to the ground. Hayate walked over to Kiba and patted his head sympathetically.

"Put some ice on it to ease that pain when you get home kid… You have no need to be ashamed of that loss even jounin have fallen to techniques like that…" Kiba growled.

Iruka grinned sheepishly; he was pleased Naruto had been serious about having a plan but… 'I'm going to have to have a little 'talk' with him about honouring his opponents in battle.'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Naruto slurped his ramen down; he hadn't stopped smiling since he'd beaten Kiba. Iruka sighed and put down his chopsticks.

"Naruto about what you did today…" Naruto turned to look at Iruka curiously.

"Wha 'bout it?"

"Don't talk with you're mouth full Naruto…" Naruto swallowed.

"Sorry sensei…"

"Naruto swear you won't use that technique in a real battle again!"

"Why not? It works so well!" Iruka sighed again. 'This is going to take a while…'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

The hokage exhaled the smoke from his pipe as the jounin instructors lined up.

"The final results for the new gennin have finally been finalised. This year's rookie of the year is Uchiha Sasuke and the dead-last was Inuzuka Kiba, these two will be put on the same team as is tradition. Team sevens third member will be Haruno Sakura. This leaves a space in team eight consisting of Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata. Therefore Uzumaki Naruto will be place in team eight to fill this gap under the instruction of Yuuhi Kurenai. Is there any objection to these changes to the original plans for the three man squads?" Kakashi raised his hand. "Very well, speak Kakashi!"

"Hokage-sama, we had agreed that Naruto would be on my team from the beginning no matter what his grades where so why the change now?" The hokage sighed.

"It has been brought to my attention that by putting Naruto and Sasuke on the same would be nothing short of disaster. As Sasuke can only learn how to use the sharingan from you his instructor must be you. Kurenai has already happily agreed to take Naruto as her student believing he may have a talent for team eights planned specialisation in recognisance as a genjutsu user or a trap ninja." A few of the jounin snorted. Kurenai whipped her head around and glared at them, the jounin fell silent under her gaze. "If there are no other objections this meeting will conclude. You shall meet your new students tomorrow afternoon. If you believe they are fit to continue as gennin then submit your report by the end of the week and they shall begin the D-rank missions as planned. Dismissed!"


	6. Team assignment

Chapter Six: Team assignment

Naruto walked into the academy with a bright smile on his face. Today Iruka would be announcing the teams and their sensei's. As far as he was concerned it would go well, he knew he wouldn't be stuck with Sasuke for which he thanked the oh-so-merciful-heavens for and compared to that _horrible_ fate he didn't care which of his classmates he was teamed up with. 'I wouldn't mind being paired with Sakura though…' Feeling his cheeks heat up slightly Naruto shook his head clear of the idea and frowned slightly.

If Sakura wasn't on his team his medical bills would be _considerably_ lower without risking her temper every day of his life until one of them became a chunnin and left the team. Never mind he knew he should reconsider his crush on her altogether since he could still feel the bruises from their last encounter where she'd lost the piece of Sasuke's shirt but he felt so mean just thinking about giving up on her. 'I'll be extra nice to her today then, it'll be a while before I see her again if we aren't on the same team…'

Naruto made his way into the class room quietly towards a free chair in the middle of the classroom.

"Naruto, you passed huh? I heard people saying you failed being the dead-last and all." Naruto blinked as he sat in the chair and craned his head back to see Shikamaru. Naruto smirked at him and gave him a thumb up.

"That's right Shikamaru! But not only did I pass _I'm_ not the dead-last!" In the background Naruto heard someone huffing angrily. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"So who's the unlucky guy huh?" Naruto snickered slightly.

"Kiba!"

"That's not surprising… Least it's not me, my mother would kill me…"

A loud bang and the familiar sound of two girls arguing sent many nervous new gennin into the air as Sakura and Ino argued over who'd gotten to class first. Naruto sweat dropped. 'Mah…. Maybe I'll wait to be nice to Sakura until lunch when she's calmed down… Hopefully…'

"Out of the way Ino-pig I'm sitting next to Sasuke!"

Naruto felt a chill go up his spine and looked to the person next to him, he was sitting in the no go zone. He'd sat down next to Sasuke without realising and he had a feeling he was going to pay for the mistake in blood today. With fan girls who knew that only one girl would be on Sasuke's team they would all want to be close to him today encase they weren't on his team. 'Shit…'

"Out of the way Naruto!" Sakura brutally shoved Naruto to the ground into the table beside him. Naruto's short temper boiled at the move and he glared at Sasuke. 'Damn that hurt!'

Naruto squatted on the table in front of Sasuke and glared at the rave haired boy with narrowed to the point that his eyes looked like they were shut.

"Naruto, stop glaring at Sasuke like that!" A chorus of agreement for the other girls followed. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt as Sakura yelled at him but ignored it. 'Sasuke, Sasuke… What do they see in him anyway?!' An elbow bumped into Naruto from behind making him fall straight towards Sasuke. 'Oh god no!' Just as their lips began to touch Naruto's mind snapped back into reality and in an instant he disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a log.

The class stared at the scene; Sasuke was frozen in place with the log pressed up against his face where Naruto had almost been a second ago. Shikamaru was the first to regain his composure.

"That could have turned out a lot worse…."

"No arguments here Shika…" Shikamaru to see where Naruto had re-appeared. Shikamaru's lips twitched as he tried not to smile. Naruto the boy-who-was very-lucky-he-escaped-being-on-twenty-fangirls-hitslists had fallen into Hinata's lap and she'd turned a most amusing shade of red. 'Naruto the day you realise she likes you I'll buy you food for a month to celebrate.'

Naruto looked up at Hinata; she had turned a particularly bright shade of red and noticing he was looking at her she began mumbling an incoherent series of words under her breathe. 'Hinata's so weird… When does she even breathe if she's always like this?!'

"Hinata are you alright? You look a little red…" Naruto pressed his hand against her forehead. He hadn't thought it was possible but Hinata's face turned an even brighter red.

"I-I… Uh…. A-alright… Na-Narut-o-kun…" Naruto frowned slightly she was obviously lying.

"If you say so Hinata…" Naruto hopped of off her lap.

As Naruto got off of her, Hinata sighed in relief as she was able to breathe without Naruto flooding her senses. Hinata followed Naruto with her eyes as he sat down, the heat returned to her cheeks as she stared. 'No bad Hinata! Don't look at him like that! Naruto is a person; if you ever want to be able to look him in the eye don't stare!'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

"Alright class, now I'm going to announce what teams you'll be placed in and your jounin sensei! Team one will be…"

Naruto tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently as Iruka read teams one through six without his name being called.

"Team seven is Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke! Hatake Kakashi is your jounin instructor." Naruto felt disappointment creeping in the back of his mind. 'So I'm not on Sakura's team…'

"Team eight consists of Uzumaki Naruto…" Naruto snapped back to reality at the sound of his name. "Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. Yuuhi Kurenai will be your instructor." Naruto smiled brightly recognising his instructor's name. 'Yes, yes, yes, yes! Thankyou Iruka-sensei! This is awesome!'

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

"Alright class, after lunch you'll meet your new sensei's so don't be late!"

Hinata walked down the steps to where Naruto was sitting as the class began leaving the room. 'I'm on Naruto-kun's team…' Hinata began playing with her fingers nervously. 'Now is as good a time as any… Just ask him to have lunch with you…'

"Uh… Naruto-kun…" Naruto turned to face her and Hinata felt her face heating up again.

"Hi Hinata!"

"Naruto-kun… I was wondering if you'd… uh…" Hinata gulped harshly. 'Why does this have to be so hard?'

"Mah… Hinata what's the matter?"

"Oh n-nothings wrong! I-I just wanted to k-know if y-you'd…"

"Hyuuga-san, Uzumaki-san…" Hinata screamed in surprise as someone appeared behind her. 'Where? Where did Shino-kun come from?!'

"Shino don't just pop out of nowhere like that!" The stoic boy raised an eyebrow in question.

"Is there something the matter Uzumaki-san?"

"Damn straight! That was so fucking creepy!" Hinata gripped her jacket tightly trying to take deep breathes. 'T-that's going to take a while to get used too…'

"My apologises Uzumaki-san, I did not mean to surprise you…" Shino pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose. "Next time I'll make sure to walk louder so it will not happen again… Since we are going to be team mates I simply wanted to ask if you and Hyuuga-san would like to eat lunch with me today since I have enough food for three people…" Hinata and Naruto stared at him for a moment. 'I-Is Shino-kun sulking?' Naruto grinned and stood up.

"Well there's no way I'm turning down a free meal Shino! Hinata are you coming?" Hinata nodded, she couldn't get her voice to work for her. 'I'm having lunch with Naruto-kun!' Hinata and Naruto followed Shino out of the classroom.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Naruto looked at the food in front of him in awe. 'There's so much food…' Naruto swallowed making sure he wouldn't drool. He'd never seen so much food in his life!

"Hyuuga-san, Uzumaki-san would you like to share anything else?" Hinata sweat dropped. 'There's already enough food here to feed six people not three…'

Naruto searched through his bag.

"Hang on a minute Shino let me find it… Aha!" Naruto pulled out his lunch, sponge cake iced with pure sugar. "Nothing beats this stuff!"

"That's you're lunch Uzumaki-san?"

"Yup!"

"Uzumaki-san is this what you eat every day?"

"Of course! What else would I eat besides ramen?" Shino sweat dropped. 'This explains so much about him…' Shino turned to Hinata.

"Hyuuga-san?" Hinata turned pink.

"R-right…" Hinata pulled out her lunch. "I-it's just teriyaki and rice…"

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Shino watched his team mates as they ate, he knew so little about both of them and if there was one thing in the world Shino hated it was when he did not know things. The single reason he'd asked them to join him was because he wanted to find out what they were like and to see what they're opinion was about their new sensei. 'It's probably unnecessary to ask Uzumaki-san though. He knows few people let alone ninja.'

"Tell me, what do you think Kurenai-sensei will be like?" Shino's new team mates stared at him for a moment neither had ever heard Shino say so much to anyone in such a short period of time.

"Uh… Since Kurenai is a jounin… She must be v-very strong…" Shino nodded.

"That is true Hyuuga-san." Shino frowned slightly under his collar. 'That was a given Hyuuga-san…'

"Oh I know!" Shino raised an eye brow slightly at Naruto. 'This should be interesting.'

"Kurenai-sensei is tall; she has long black hair, red eyes and wears a red and white dress! She's only recently became a jounin and she's a genjutsu specialist! She hangs out at bars with jounin called Asuma, Kakashi and Gai a lot and… and… That's all I got…"

Shino and Hinata stared at Naruto with their mouths hanging open unashamedly. Thankfully for Shino his collar hid his expression, Hinata had no such luck.

"What's the matter?" Naruto pressed his hand up against Hinata's forehead. "Are you guy's alright?"


	7. Jounin sensei Kurenai!

Yes I have updated

Yes I have updated! I finally thought of what to do for the story so enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Jounin sensei Kurenai!

At the sound of the school bell team eight made their way back to their classroom. Naruto licked the remnants off his lunch off his fingers.

"Mah… Shino where'd you get all that great food from? I'm stuffed!"

"It was nothing Uzumaki-san…"

"What's with you? My names NA-RU-TO! Uzumaki-san is so lame dattabayo! 'sides we're team mates now, cut the formal crap!" Shino ignored him and sat down in the back row. "Hey, don't ignore me dattabayo!"

Shino reached out and pulled Naruto into the seat next to him.

"Quiet. I will address you as I please." Naruto felt sweat drip down his face. 'Mah… Why do I have to have such a scary team mate?' As if Shino read his mind the Aburame's sunglasses flashed dangerously in the light. "Uzumaki…" Naruto grimaced.

"Y-yeah Shino…?"

"Behave yourself or I will personally make sure you never eat any of your sugar coated, sugar cakes ever again." Naruto's eye twitched and he jumped out of his seat.

"You can't do that dattabayo! I _need_ them to live!" The entire class turned to stare at them, Hinata slowly sunk into her seat feeling everyone's attention on them.

"N-Naruto-kun, maybe you should sit down…"

"Eh? What for?" Naruto sunk back into his seat sheepishly. "Ah… Sorry…"

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Kurenai paced through the academy hallway towards the gennin's classroom, she could feel Asuma's presence behind her doing his best to remain unnoticed.

"Asuma stop it right now or you'll be seeing nothing but Gai in leopard's underwear at night for the rest of the month!" He choked.

"Kurenai… Why must you be so cruel to me? I thought we had something special!" She sighed, 'gee I sure can pick them…'

"Pervert…"

"Hey! I'm exactly what my parents made me to be it's not my fault!" She grabbed his ear and twisted it.

"Asuma you're in a school, behave like a good example for the gennin who you are going to leave an impression on for the rest of your life!" He wined.

"But Kurenai, who's to know but us?" Kurenai opened the door, still dragging Asuma by the ear.

"Team ten this pervert is your new sensei, good luck with that!" Kurenai let go of him.

"Just my luck, first I'm stuck with these two losers and now a pervert for a sensei too?"

"Who cares if he's a pervert, maybe he'll buy us barbeque!"

"I wanted to be on Sasuke's team… Why is this happening all to me?!"

"Life must really hate you Ino…yawn…"

"Shut it Shikamaru!" The ice blonde's fist descended on him in an instant.

"Hey, watch it would you!"

"Maa, that's enough now you two! Alright before we kill each other let's go get some lunch and introduce ourselves, team ten follow me!"

"We just had lunch! I'm on a diet you know."

"Half a sandwich and a snickers bar don't count as lunch…"

"I say we get barbeque!"

Kurenai sighed, 'if that team makes the final cut I'll be very surprised but then Asuma's very lenient…'

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto waved from the back row, the blonde jumped up and down in his seat until Shino grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him back down. Kurenai couldn't stop a small smile forming, 'now is as good a time as any…'

"Alright team eight; let's get a move on, shall we?" Naruto ran down the steps, Hinata and Shino followed. The three stared up at her expectantly. "Well then, uh… How about we head to the park?"

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Kurenai settled on a rock in the park waiting for her team to catch up, Shino arrived first. He walked silently over to here with a small nod before leaning against a tree. Hinata and Naruto came later chatting, well Naruto was talking and Hinata looked like she was ready to keel over and pass out, she seemed to be getting a few one word answers in though. Naruto flopped down onto the grass and Hinata sat down next to him nervously.

"Well then, since we're out of that stuffy classroom lets get acquainted. Each of you will introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself. Likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams, fears, strengths and weaknesses and then we'll take turns saying what we think about each other in turns. Got it?" Naruto raised his hand.

"Kurenai sensei how 'bout you do it first so we know what it's supposed to be like and stuff." She blinked.

"Oh right, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I like hot springs, teaching, genjutsu and dango. I dislike… hmm perverts who see a kunochi's boobs instead of her skills. I hope to become a genjutsu master some day and to see all of you pass the chuunin exams alive one day. I'm afraid of nothing that concerns you. My greatest strength is genjutsu obviously and my weakness is… oh taijutsu I think… Right Shino, it's your turn."

Shino pushed his sunglasses further up.

"I am Aburame Shino; I like bugs and dislike many things. I hope to master my clan's techniques. My strength is my allies and my fear and weakness is…" He mumbled something.

"Eh? Speak up Shino!" Shino glared at Naruto.

"Bug spray and frogs…" Naruto burst out laughing.

"Bug spray?!" Hinata bit her lip. 'I won't laugh… I can't laugh now!' Shino stomped on his hand.

"Gah! Get off!"

"My mistake it appears my foot has become stuck!" Shino pressed harder.

"Hinata, it's your turn… Naruto, Shino! Cut it out now!" Shino released his hand and Naruto scrambled back to hide behind Hinata. "Thankyou, Hinata?"

"Um… Ah… Hyuga Hinata, I-I like cooking, my f-family and uh…" Hinata shot a glance at Naruto. "I dislike… bullies; I hope to be a good heir for my clan. I'm afraid of thunder, I have g-good chakra control I g-guess and…" She looked at the ground. "My weakness in my taijutsu…" Kurenai inwardly sighed, Hinata's confidence was worse than she remembered.

"Alright then Naruto…" He grinned.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and training. I dislike people who doubt my dream to be hokage. Kage bushin no jutsu is my strongest technique and my biggest weakness is getting caught by genjutsu dattabayo!"

"Right, but Naruto…"

"Yeah sensei?"

"What are you afraid of?" He winced.

"Nothing…." Kurenai frowned and crossed her arms.

"Naruto…"

"Spiders okay!" Shino smirked behind his collar. 'Revenge…'

Next Chapter: Shino's revenge! True gennin exam!


	8. Shino's revenge! True Gennin Exam!

People I did not mean to make Shino appear to be an asshole or evil

_People I did not mean to make Shino appear to be an asshole or evil! This reaction will be explained in the chapter so let me be!_

Chapter Eight: Shino's revenge! True gennin exam!

Kurenai smiled at her team. "Alright then, now that we know each other a little better the three of you are going to say what you think of each other."

"Eh? Why?"

"Well for one Naruto, when we hear about ourselves we can see what we're doing wrong that my offend our discourage others and secondly for your survival test tomorrow you will be using strategy to go up against each other in a scouting exercise so this is another way of gathering information, you have told us your weaknesses and fears and you'll be trying to use it against each other so by hearing what the other person thinks of you, one can get a general idea of what to expect." Naruto and Hinata looked at her in confusion for a few seconds before everything she said sunk in.

"Wait we have another test? What the hell was the last exam for anyway?"

"To look for candidates to be gennin, those who fail normally average sixty-six percent, then go back to the academy or quit." Naruto stared at her in disbelief.

"Fu-!" Kurenai flicked him.

"Watch your language!" Naruto rubbed his abused forehead.

Hinata felt the sweat run down her in bullets, a second test would be bad real bad. She was up against Naruto! 'I-I have to withstand… I can't pass if I faint every time he gets to close to me!'

Shino raised an eyebrow in surprise as Kurenai announced the second test, he hadn't heard of that possibility but it wasn't that big of a surprise to him. 'If the test is on using the opponent's weaknesses I suppose I'll get revenge on Uzumaki sooner than I thought…'

Kurenai sighed again, her team was taking this just as she expected.

"Okay, Shino, you can talk about Naruto first then it's your turn Hinata. Next Naruto and Hinata, you get to talk about Shino and then we do the same for Hinata right?" The three nodded. "Shino?"

"Uzumaki-san…"

"Naruto, dattabayo!" Shino groan inwardly.

"Naruto-san is very loud, he is impatient and far to out spoken when it comes to things he does not understand. Why is he like this? It is because he lacks _(waffle crisps)_ discipline."

"Hey! I have discipline!" The three looked at him. "I do!"

"Hinata…" Hinata's head shot up in surprise.

"O-okay… Naruto-kun is brave and determined, he never gives up and he-he always does his best…" She pressed her fingers together, blushing madly.

"Good, you both hit on his good and bad qualities. Naruto, now it's your turn to talk about Shino."

"He's a know-it-all, whose way too formal with people and he scares small children when he looks their way-!"

"I don't like children, when I scare them it's intentional."

"He's mean and-"

"Naruto that's enough let Hinata have a go!"

"Ugrh…"

"S-Shino-kun is very intelligent, very polite a-and he has good skills as n-ninja…" Hinata felt a stabbing pain in her heart. 'Unlike me Shino-kun and Naruto-kun have great potential as ninja…' Kurenai smiled at her encouragingly as if she sensed her student's distress.

"A good point Hinata, so Shino would you tell us what you think of her?"

"Hyuga-san is a capable ninja but she lacks confidence, if she were to gain this her skills would greatly benefit. She lets her shyness burden her unnecessarily and she greatly misjudges her skills due to these factors." Kurenai nodded in agreement.

"Excellent Shino, Naruto it's your turn."

"Hinata is a shy, timid, dark and weird person." Hinata's wished she could sink into the ground. Kurenai felt like beating her head against a wall. 'Of all the things for you to say-…"

"But you know what? That's what makes her so cool all the other girls I know are-are… What's the word?"

"Violent, evil, scary, intimidating…?"

"Hey that's the word! Thanks Shino, all the other girls are pretty intimidating-and violent too, when I stop to think about it!" Hinata felt the blood rushing to her head. 'N-Naruto-kun thinks I'm cool…" With that thought Hinata fainted.

"EH? H-Hinata? What's the matter?"

"Hyuga-san will be fine Naruto-san but you know what?" Naruto turned to face Shino who held something in his hands.

"What?"

"It's not polite to laugh when a person admits one of his deepest fears…" Naruto felt his blood run cold.

"Wh-What?!" Shino revealed a large spider.

"It's a tarantula by the way…" Naruto screamed and fainted.

Kurenai sweat dropped. 'This is going to take some getting used too…"

Next Chapter: Survival of the fittest Team 8 fights!


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